More flu deaths hit state as cases become widespread

Alma Romero |Sunday, January 14, 2018

Flu hospitalizations in Pueblo spike

Virtually the entire country is now reporting widespread flu, the first time that's happened in 13 years.

Hamilton School District Superintendent Tom Korst reported that Hamilton Middle School was needing "lots of subs" due to the flu, but other area schools in Darby, Victor, Stevensville and Corvallis said they hadn't any reported cases.

"There has been a clear increase in hospital admissions here", said Dr. Bettina Fries, chief of infectious diseases at Stony Brook University Hospital, who noted that people are largely being hospitalized because of co-infections: the flu along with other nasty respiratory viruses that circulate in winter. They showed that when a vaccine is considered effective, 1.2 percent of vaccinated people had the flu, while 3.9 percent of unvaccinated people had the flu.

The administration and staff at J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital in Huntingdon is asking the community to restrict visitation to the Hospital, due to the number of people with influenza and the contagious nature of the flu.

Because of the flu season which has come on earlier and more aggressive than years past Beaumont has chose to ban children under 13 from visiting all eight of their hospitals.

Unity Point Finley Hospital in Dubuque and Mercy Medical Centers in Dubuque and Dyersville are restricting visitation from all children under 14 and anyone with flu-like symptoms.

There have been 13 deaths at least partly attributable to influenza in Maine through January 11, according to the Maine CDC.

In the last week, flu deaths in England have gone up by 50% with 27 new victims. At the very first week of 2018, 7 kids died in influenza, bringing the entire quantity to 20 therefore much for this entire year.

On Friday afternoon, CDC said the agency was changing the topic to influenza, and took down the mushroom cloud photo and the announcement about nuclear blast public health responses.

"While a nuclear detonation is unlikely, it would have devastating results and there would be limited time to take critical protection steps", according to the CDC website.

"The influenza vaccine protects against multiple strains of flu", Anderson said in a press release. However, those who get a shot and still contract the flu experience milder and shorter symptoms, research suggests.

Using warm water and soap is the best way to protect against the virus, according to Qured GP, Dr Amy Bibby. It's not yet known how effective the vaccine is for this season.

The actual number of flu cases is far higher than the number of reported cases, because most people recover at home and are never tested.

"So we're hot and heavy in the middle of the influenza season", Merritt said. The CDC is calling it an epidemic.